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William LAWSON

William Lawson was born June 26, 1731 at Montrose, Scotland. He is the only son of a widow lady, no information is available on his father, however, it is assumed that he was killed in the Culloden Battle. William was one of the rebels arrested and confined at Chester and Carlisle after the battle. The Scottish rebels became a threat to the the English crown, and on September 26, 1746 an agreement was signed with the English Treasury to transport the prisoners to the plantations (American Colonies) at the rate of 5 pounds per head. The “Gildart” departed from England on May 5, 1747 and arrived August 5, 1747 at Port North, Potomac, Maryland with a William Lawson on the passenger list.

William, “The Apprentice”

William Lawson was bound over to a planter by the Captain of the ship for a good sum in tobacco. The people did not treat well, and after a while William ran away. Sometime in the 1750’s William met and married a Rebecca ?, in the 1858 Halifax County, Virginia marriage register there is a William Lawson to a Jane Banks. If this is our William she is probably Rebecca Jane Banks.

William, “The Revolutionary”

William never realized that one day he would be facing the British army again, but this time, in a new and different land. William swore allegiance to the State of Virginia and the American cause, as noted in the Montgomery County Court Book “Revolutionary War” page 145-148 filed at the courthouse in Christianburg, Virginia. although almost fifty years old he served as a member of the Captain Daniel Trigg’s Company of Montgomery County militia. There were only two William Lawson’s to serve in the revolutionary war and they were father and son.